Final Fantasy VIII is the favourite instalment of yours truly. Its story is consistent and powerfully emotional, the characters relate well and the way they meet up makes sense.
There is nothing to master here; there are no stages in which to learn how to beat certain enemy types or to become better. Your skill level stays the same. Overall, though: not a bad second game to develop.
Even with their linear nature, the gameplay of these games is the high point in the series, offering loads of customizability and the ability to plan out the next move. Use your own strengths or reduce weaknesses - anything is possible. Unfortunately, the characters never really bond, at least not in a way that truly binds them together - not even thematically.
Rocketbirds 2 suffers from hit-or-miss presentation, with nice rock music in the background occasionally, but an awkward intro. The humour is insipid, focusing on 'funny voices' and tropes. The combat, while getting the basics of weapon types right, never amounts to more than 'shoot and dodge,' and dodging doesn't involve skill or focus. A dearth of enemies and banal platforming focusing solely on enemy manipulation to open doors and such doesn't help. This mediocre game won't entertain the pros, but serves as an okay intro to twin-stick shooters.
Neon Chrome's Arena mode is a bit unbalanced as to the effectiveness of some classes' unique abilities, and the turret placement and boss appearances can awkwardly take the wind out of the sails. It is also probably a bit formulaic for most people's liking. That said, it's a harrowing experience, focusing very well on skill rather than tricks or abilities. It's a worthy mode that can be entertaining for hours on end.
Resident Evil 4 is fun. It's excellently paced and contains fairly frightening cut-scenes. The characters are paper-thin and their actors ham it up, but it's more about the overall plot, anyway. The soundtrack increases the feeling of dread. It's just a shame so many environments have the same colours and atmosphere. Some enemies become underpowered and aren't as visually scary as they could be. Perhaps worst of all, the encounters become more and more scripted, and the locales more on-rails. As long as enemies' vitals are hit, ammo will pile up, making survival too easy. That said, it's as tense as Resident Evil 5, scarier, well-rounded, and doesn't rely on bullet sponge bosses. It's survival-action with decent horror, and worth a buy to see the series' wasted potential.
In some ways, Resident Evil 5 is not as 'fun' as its successor. Its controls are slightly clunky, the A.I. partner is scatter-brained, and her inclusion in every situation reduces the horror. However, it's also more thrilling, and the survival aspect is implemented better than in Resident Evil 6, with tough ammo conservation and some inventory management.
Overfall is a good game - better than most first attempts at game development. It provides simple laughs, but still decent storytelling. Its strength does not lie in its role-playing aspects, though. It would've been a more tactical game if it allowed for mixing and matching through customisation of characters' skills and passive traits, and unique armour would've done much to alleviate the boredom of looking at generic character models. It does have good replay value with a few unlockable weapons, trinkets, and companions, though. If you want to play a simple blend between role-playing and the randomness of roguelikes, give it a try.
While it's admirable that Capcom tried to make the game appealing to the largest possible audience, it was unnecessary. Games should be made not to generate the most income, but to be as unique. The similarity of Chris Redfield's campaign to Modern Warfare and the like is inexcusable; we need a Resident Evil game, not a "third-person shooter, only this time with rocket launcher-wielding zombies." More importantly, Resident Evil 6 fails to deliver something skill-demanding, and is mainly frustrating and mediocre in most respects. The Resident Evil series: revived, surviving, or killed? Surviving, but pleading for death and reincarnation.
Neon Chrome is a very fun top-down shooter with an excellent soundtrack, although has slightly uninteresting enemy design, lighting, and environments in general. It's not quite as deep as it ideally would be, considering many skills and enhancements are extensions of your character, rather than additions, but its flaws are fairly minor. Play this game if you enjoy top-down shooters, play it if you enjoy role-playing, play it if you like challenging yourself (because you die quickly). Just play it.
All in all, Telltale Games' Game of Thrones does not do well. Deciding how to play the game is impossible, because it's merely about reacting to events as they unfold. Frankly, the game is about creating one's own view of the playable characters. The most narrative impact a player can have is preventing one family member from getting killed, but, considering the game's tendencies, it wouldn't be surprising if that choice was for naught, too.
While the characters interact in amusing and interesting ways, they are one-dimensional. The few new shallow storylines hardly justify a repurchase. Buy this if the previous game was missed, or if there's a need for a cheap PS4 Musou release.
Risen 3 is one of those RPGs that could've been much better, mostly because the action (combat, mainly) gets more attention than the RPG elements, and even then, the action isn't deep or varied. The story is very basic and the characters can only be called characters in the sense that they play a particular shtick. It is not a challenging game, not unless all points are allocated to skills not related to combat. Nonetheless, the environments are beautiful, it's good to get weapons and clothing that can be used to role-play, and the core gameplay is solid. There are some decent quests, too. Just avoid the immense amount of bugs by saving often; otherwise all progress might be lost.
PlanetSide 2 is an amazingly good game for its price tag, or rather, the lack of one. The only price to mention is the optional one for buying weapons, mods, and abilities, and they're not overly expensive. Besides, it is fairly easy to get weapons without paying at all; it just takes some work to get that privilege. Anyone who likes online shooters should give this game a try, and should look past the designation of 'F2P game.' Not everything that's free is garbage - in fact, this is a gem.
Battlefield 4 is a very impressive title. It starts out shaky, but the bugs and crashes found when it was first released are now gone. It has tactical and epic gameplay, with much replay value. The campaign and the soundtrack drag it down, but it is definitely worth buying for fans of online shooters, especially if they like spectacular large-scale combat with much freedom in customisation and role-playing.